Chapter 1020: Chapter 976 Meeting

“It’s been aired long enough; it’s time to go take a look.” Guo Jia saw Chen Xi’s somewhat downcast expression, feeling speechless inwardly. Obviously, he was getting along well with Zhen Mi before, yet he insisted on making a clean break, resulting in his current daily absent-mindedness.

“Take a look at what?” Chen Xi gathered his thoughts a bit and looked at Guo Jia, asking, as his mind hadn’t been on work recently.

“What do you think you’re going to look at?” Guo Jia glanced at Chen Xi, took a sip of wine, and said, “The envoy from Gongsun Shengji has been waiting for several days.”

“Oh, give me a dossier, I’ll browse through it briefly, then go meet them. And notify each family head that I’ll hold an end-of-year meeting in a ten-day period. If Xingba returns, remember to let me know.” After easing his expression slightly, Chen Xi looked at Guo Jia and said, as he had quite a lot on his plate.

Guo Jia didn’t even look, pulling out a few prepared documents from his sleeve and handing them to Chen Xi, “Gongsun Shengji sent out a team of envoys, primarily his son and Liangg Bofang.”

Chen Xi browsed through the documents briefly and got a sense of things. However, he was quite shocked that the intelligence organization could even uncover Gongsun Gong’s hidden ailments; Jia Xu was truly shameless.

“As for the end-of-year meeting, the family heads are probably getting impatient.” Guo Jia thought of the increasing number of aristocratic families in Ye City, smiled and said, “Times have changed; the overt tilt of the overlord has made it impossible for those aristocratic families to continue betting erratically.”

“Is there any family I’m anticipating?” Chen Xi asked directly without even raising his head, as several aristocratic families hadn’t appeared in the previous years.

“They’re all coming: the Yang Family, Yuan Family, Wang Family of Taiyuan, all those that normally wouldn’t appear have representatives.” Guo Jia said with a face full of sighs, “Even the Xiahou Family and Sunx Family have sent branches, though you understand the substance.”

“Looks like all the Aristocratic Families Under Heaven are coming. After taking the first step toward unity, I can finally prepare to take the second step.” Chen Xi’s expression of loss slowly dissipated, saying with a touch of emotion.

“Zichuan, can you lay it out? What exactly do you intend to do? Even now, for you, it’s but the first step; what is it you truly want?” Guo Jia smacked his lips, as the first step mentioned by Chen Xi had already laid the foundation for unity under heaven, prompting the question of intent.

“I just want to see how vast this world truly is, and to achieve this goal, solely relying on us isn’t enough. Some things are more suitable for aristocratic families to handle than us.” Chen Xi slowly revealed his reasoning.

Although Guo Jia couldn’t quite grasp Chen Xi’s goal, Chen Xi’s slow pace of speech stirred a certain tremor in him. For some reason, Guo Jia was greatly touched upon hearing Chen Xi’s words.

“Don’t you want to take a look at the corners of the world as described in the bizarre Classic of Mountains and Seas?” Chen Xi turned to look at Guo Jia and said, “And gathering all the aristocratic families is precisely for readiness at that time.”

Chen Xi needed the aristocratic families to step out of the Central Plains, not just one or two, but more than half needed to move out. At this point, the preliminary foundation for executing this plan was established, and it was time for Chen Xi to give a heads-up in advance.

“I’ll go meet the Gongsun Clan of Liaodong; you notify those families. Given your current situation, it seems you’re again out of money.” Chen Xi glanced at Guo Jia, “You also should temper yourself. If not, hurry and get married; at least there’ll be some leftovers, and you’re not exactly young anymore.”

“Forget it, I still plan to muddle along for a few years. If push comes to shove, I might as well marry Wen He’s daughter. See, how suitable.” Guo Jia said facetiously, with a smile.

Speaking of which, Liu Bei’s officials only had two ways of handling their stipends: one type, like Guan Yu and Zhao Yun, barely spent it, either handing it over to their wives or depositing it in the Money Exchange, often not even knowing how much they had; the other, represented by Guo Jia, sooner or later ended up broke.

Guo Jia didn’t even know where his money went, but fortunately, Chen Xi noticed that people like Hua Xiong, Zhang Fei, and Guo Jia couldn’t hold onto their money at all. For future consideration, a part of the stipend was issued while the other was invested in industry, somewhat like saving up a dowry.

Of course, for those like Guan Yu and Zhao Yun who could manage their money, Chen Xi also suggested issuing a partial stipend, with him investing it, and as for other Mount Tai officials who were willing to invest, Chen Xi would handle it; for those unwilling, Chen Xi wouldn’t insist.

For Chen Xi, even mosquito legs counted as meat; issuing stipends like this could help build one or two infrastructure projects a month, and accumulating little by little was very important.

“Wen He would be the last to marry his daughter to you.” Chen Xi said speechlessly; although Jia Xu had been wanting to discreetly marry off his daughter recently, marrying her to Guo Jia couldn’t be considered discreet at all.

“Wen He’s a bit demanding; marrying her to Yuanzhi is great, yet he insists on finding an ordinary person. Really tedious.” Guo Jia said, pouting, dissatisfied with Jia Xu’s over-cautiousness, “However, still thankful for the favor. I’ll remember to notify the various families.”

It’s worth noting that with Guo Jia’s visits, return visits would surely follow, and though Guo Jia could go empty-handed, if the major families returned his visit empty-handed, it would surely be bizarre. An out and about, and Guo Jia could splurge for half a year.

“I suggest you hurry and marry a legal wife from a distinguished family or invest in some industry.” Chen Xi calmly suggested.

“I’ll think about it.” Guo Jia waved his hand, clearly indifferent to Chen Xi’s suggestion.

“I’ll make sure to talk to Wen He about it later; maybe he’ll agree.” Chen Xi said casually; Jia Xu had been organizing to marry off his daughter, yet nothing had materialized, jokingly blocking him was only fitting.

“Even if agreed, it’s no use.” Guo Jia waved his hand, indicating to Chen Xi to go quickly solve the Gongsun Du issue, which had been aired for quite a while.

When Chen Xi arrived at the Ye City inn, it was clear that Gongsun Gong was prepared, showing no signs of displeasure from being kept waiting for several days, still warmly greeting Chen Xi into the inn with Liangg Mao.

Indeed, Chen Xi had put on quite a posture; though he had delayed for a few days, ultimately he personally came to the inn rather than commanding Gongsun Gong and the others to be brought to him.

After all, moving a bit back in time, Liu Bei and Gongsun Du had traded frequently, even supporting each other with grain and winter clothing, yet after Liu Bei’s growth, Gongsun Du single-handedly terminated horse trading, even severing dealings with Liu Bei at one point.

From this angle, what Gongsun Du did indeed warranted Liu Bei personally coming to clear things up, as now Liu Bei had fully established his position as overlord, also reaching the point of settling accounts.

This was also an important reason for Gongsun Gong’s anxiety upon arriving in Ye City, as well as why Liu Bei’s side aired them for several days without them daring to protest!(To be continued. If you liked this work, you’re welcome to visit wuxiaworld.site to vote, your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.wuxiaworld.site for reading.)